My lips were formed in a circular motion as I sipped the iced coffee that I had picked up from Jitters earlier that morning, coming to star labs right after I had left ccpd, the caramel flavor making my mouth water with delight.

I was sitting in one of the office chairs, my feet propped up on a empty space on the white desk of computer monitors.

I put a strand of my medium length hair behind my ear, as Barry walked in, "What kind of idiot still thinks I can outrun bullets?"

"A real big one." I mutter, looking up at him as he took long strides, a smile on his face as he pressed a kiss to my cheek, before doing a handshake with Wally.

Iris shot me a look, as I gave her the same look back; confusion.

"That guy should be the poster boy of what not to do against The Flash." Wally says, a smile on his face.

"So what're we gonna call him?" Barry asks.

Wally comes and stands where I was seated, "You mean like a nickname?"

"Yeah- Cisco does it for all of them, he's like the master of it. Can't just call him suspect on a motorcycle, right, what do ya think?" Barry says, taking off his gloves.

"I don't know." Cisco replies blankly.

"I'll take this one." Barry says, "Uh- Crook? Lame? A- Five Finger-"

I shut my eyes, feeling the second hand embarrassment, as Cisco spoke up, "How about Thief? He robs stuff. Lets just call him Thief."

"Gotta get to the gym. Excuse me." Cisco excuses himself, leaving the labs.

"The gym? Is he like working out now or-?" Barry questions.

Caitlin stood up, "You know, Barry sometimes your jokes aren't very funny."

Iris stood up, ready to leave also, "I should get back to the paper."

"It's okay- I was just leaving." Joe stood up, catching his keys, starting to walk out also.

"Hey- guys- hey Joe-" Barry stops them both, "Look, I'm sorry guys. I know you guys aren't speaking with each other right now- but I was just thinking maybe we could talk about why that is for a minute?"

Iris and Joe already start to decline, as Wally gives Barry a look.

"Hey- one conversation doesn't hurt anyone, guys." I defended Barry's attempt to start the conversation up.

Iris sighs, putting the blame on her father, "You both know that us not talking isn't because of me. It's because of something he did."

"Iris." Joe starts.

"What?" She snaps, "What could you possibly have to say?"

Joe goes quiet, before walking over to Barry, looking at the two of us, "I'll just see you two- at the station- all right? Nice job with the Thief." With that he starts to leave.

"Can you give me a lift to CCU?" Wally asks, Joe agreeing.

"So- you're still taking engineering classes?" Barry questions for confirmation.

"Uh, yeah." Wally answers.

"Yeah- cool." Barry nods as Wally follows Joe out.

"Yeah- I'm gonna head back to Picture News." Iris says, looking at me, "I'll see you at home." And with that, she leaves, leaving Barry and I the only ones in the cortex.

I see the confused look on Barry's face, causing me to get up, setting my coffee down, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah- I'm fine." He clears his throat.

"Are you sure?" I question, standing directly in front of him.

"What did she mean by see you at home?" He questions, as if he already didn't know.

My eyebrows furrow, "Because we live together? After the whole thing with her and Joe- she moved in with me. So it's you- Wally and Joe at the house- and her and I at my apartment."

"What did Joe mean when he said he'd see you at the station too?" Barry asks again.

"I work there? I'm his partner?" I stare at him as if he had lost his mind.

His eyes go wide, not sure if he was hearing me right, "You're a detective?"

"Yes. Barry, you know this." I state, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm just- so confused." Barry admits, running a hand through his hair.

"Barry-" I start, "You can talk to me. Just because we aren't together doesn't change how close we are. I'll always be there for you."

"We're not together?" He chokes out.

I stare at him, my eyes slightly squinted, my eyebrows remaining furrowed, my voice quiet, completely concerned, "We haven't been together since Reign broke us up, Barry."

"What?" He whispers, the look in his eyes looking as if his heart had broken into millions of pieces.

"Are you sure- that you're okay?" I stare at him, "Did you get amnesia or something?"

"I don't have- amnesia." Barry spoke, running his hands through his hair.

"Then why have you suddenly forgotten all of this?" I ask him, putting a hand on my hip.

He goes silent, as I stare at him for a second, before nodding, nudging him lightly, "Hey- I'm gonna head to the station. By the way- you might get somewhere with Iris with the way you've been pinning over her. You might just have a shot." I give him my best smile, grabbing my coffee, before leaving star labs, heading back to the station.

-

[ barry's pov ]

"So you altered the timeline, Joe and Iris don't talk anymore, there's a new guy at work, and you and Zee haven't been together since the whole Reign situation- and thinks that you're head over heels for Iris again. She is a Detective- Joe's partner- Iris now lives with Zee when before you altered the timeline you lived with her- and Cisco's brother is dead." Felicity lists off everything I had just told her, counting with her fingers. "Admittedly, that is an issue."

"And what if there's more?" I question.

"Well, has anything here changed?" Felicity asks.

I sigh, "No- I don't know- everything seems the same to me, I think."

"Good." She simply says.

"Can I use- hold on." I move, seating in her seat in front of her computer, before she can protest, "I'll be real careful."

I type away, rechecking if everything was the same in Star City, "Yeah- I don't know- I mean everything looks okay-" I pause, stopping at a photo of John with a young boy, my sentence coming out as a question, "Wait. Who's that young boy with Dig?"

"Wait no way, He didn't have a kid before?" Felicity asks, her eyes wide.

I turn my head, my words coming out in stutters, "No- he had a kid- he has a kid. It was- Baby Sara."

"Baby- John." Felicity corrected, pointing at the screen.

"No- are you-" I could feel the regret and guilt coming over me, as I held my head in my hands.

"Oh my god- it really can affect us." Felicity says.

"Okay- you know what- I don't wanna know anymore." I slouched.

"Okay, I know this is a lot of pressure, but everything's going to be all right." Felicity assured me.

"I screwed up everyone's life." I argued.

"Yeah, well- maybe you should tell me." Felicity suggests.

I shook my head, standing up, "I'm not gonna tell them. I mean- how is that gonna help them- that's just going to make everything worse- I don't know how to fix this."

"Okay, well. You're going to figure it out, if there's one thing I've learned from you, is that with you anything's possible." Felicity convinces me.

"Why, cause I'm the Flash?" I ask.

"No, because you are Barry Allen. And sweet, loving, kind Barry Allen that everybody likes, the Barry Allen that's just like pudding, can fix this." Felicity says, "So go, and fix this."

"Yeah- okay, you're right- yeah." I nod.

"Now." She demanded.

"Right now?" I ask.

"Yes!" She raises her voice as I stumbled to my feet.

"Okay- all right-" I say, doing as she told me to.

-

[ zee's pov ]

Barry had arranged a dinner that night, one that didn't go so well. He had went to many limits to set the dinner, which included lying to the majority of us, to draw us all into the room. He admitted that soon after all he wanted was for us to start acting like a team again, and not be so distant and separated. The dinner took a turn for the worst when Cisco called him out for not going back in time to save Dante.

Eventually, the dinner was cut short when we all had to go because of a meta alert, leaving Wally alone at the table. Rival had gotten Barry's attention. They went at each other for a while, before Barry lost him.

Barry has come back to Star Labs, and Iris pulling him into the hall and practically calling him out for what her and I found on the security cameras. I stayed back, but ended up listening in on the conversation no matter how bad I felt. Iris had told Barry if he was lying to her, whatever was happening between them couldn't happen.

I felt sympathy for Iris, but almost felt somewhat relief, no matter how much remorse I felt because of it. Even if Barry and I broke up, and I had watched him pin himself around Iris for the past few months, it broke my heart every time.

I had shoved myself in work to avoid coming by them, but either way Barry and I had stayed close as ever. I only wished that it was while us being together. But it wouldn't happen. I did my best concealing everything around them, which made it easier for them.

"Where's Barry?" Joe asks as Iris walks back in, alone. As if in cue, Barry runs in.

Barry speaks up, "I need to tell you all something. The truth."

"The truth about what?" Iris questions.

Barry sighs, "After Zoom killed my dad, after we defeated him, I wasn't in a great space, and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to- run back in time and save my mom."

I could already see the look of hurt on Cisco's face as Caitlin repeats for conformation, "You stopped the Reverse Flash from killing your mom?"

"Yeah-" He nods.

"Wait- so- is she alive?" Wally asks.

"She was, for a few months. I lived with her. And my dad- I had a completely different life. I wasn't even the Flash for most of it." Barry told us.

"I don't understand-" Wally spoke, "You created a whole other existence- how is that possible?"

Barry scratches the back of his head, walking to the board, drawing a line, "This is the timeline." He draws a dot on the line, "This is the point where we exist right now." He draws another, "This is where my mom was murdered." He drags a line down, creating a new dot, "So when I saved her, I created a new reality. A new timeline. I was living in-"

Cisco finishes, "A mirror universe."

"It's called a Flashpoint, apparently." Barry sets down the marker in his hand.

"Why did you leave Flashpoint?" I question.

"That life started to spin out of control- this guy- Clariss, He was a speedster there, too. He was known as the Rival. He caused a lot of problems. So I decided to run back in time again and let things happen like they were supposed to- in hopes of resetting the timeline, but when I came back- things weren't the same." Barry explains.

"So- you managed to screw up twice?" I sigh, rubbing my temples lightly.

He gives me a small nod, looking at us.

"You mean people. Like us." Caitlin spoke.

"Yeah- yeah." A glossy coat covers Barry's eyes, as he drew another line dragging from the past dot, "So I created a new timeline. The one we're living in now. It's not as different as the last one, not in large ways, but in some ways, in smaller ways- in meaningful ways- for all of you- or anybody that's close to me, and I can't ever really put it back together."

Tears slipped his eyes, as I stare at him, my entire straight face diminishing the moment I see his tears fall, as it turns into a whole look of sympathy, my heart hurting for him.

"Barry, that's a lot to take in." Joe admits.

Barry nods, as Iris spoke up, "We got along in that other life, didn't we? That's why you've been working so hard to get us talking again."

"Okay, here's the thing, I will tell you, what's different- all of you- if you want to know." Barry told us, "But you have to live with those differences because I can't change it again. But at least you'll know. And you all deserve that choice."

"So you decided it was okay to change things when someone in your family dies- but when it's someone in my family-" Cisco trailed off, before leaving the cortex, not wanting to listen to any more of this.

"I'll go talk to him." Barry told us, leaving us all in the cortex also.

-

I stare at everyone who was in the cortex as we all stood in silence, none of us not knowing how to react to what Barry had told us.

"He changed our lives." Wally spoke up, looking at all of us. "And he kept that secret from us. How are we supposed to be okay with that?"

"He made a mistake." I habitually defended Barry. "We all make mistakes."

"Of course you out of all of us defend Barry-" Cisco starts, ready to start an argument between the two of us,.

I stepped closer to them, my index finger pointed directly to him, my teeth gritted, as I snapped unintentionally, "I am not doing this with you right now, Cisco. I get that you're upset- but you're too upset to listen through to me clearly- so take a breath and let what I'm saying get through that thick skull of yours."

"Fine." He crosses his arms.

"He made a mistake. He saved someone he loved. Are we really going to act like if it wasn't anyone we loved we wouldn't do it?" I question.

"We wouldn't- because we know better." Wally tried to argue with me as my head snaps in his direction.

"Are you really going to tell me if you were a speedster and had some sort chance to save your mother who was dying on that hospital bed- you wouldn't do it?" I shot at him, as my look at Iris, "And if that was Joe? Or Eddie?" I look at Joe, "Iris- or Wally?" I look at Cisco, "Dante?" I look at Caitlin, "Ronnie?"

All their attempts to shut me out were silenced, as they stayed still, their stare staying on me, "If we were in the same position he was in, with those type of abilities, none of us would've hesitated."

"Barry simply made a mistake. I mean- Cisco- you outed Barry of being the Flash when Captain Cold had you and Dante. You did it to save him." I called him out, "Barry is just like us. He makes mistakes. We can't put that much pressure on him. He's going to have to live with that for the rest of his life- and with us adding more onto it- it's not going to go good for him."

"Barry had lost too much by the time he made that decision. We can't blame him for that." I say, looking at Iris and Joe, "Sometimes you just got to forgive and move forward. For the better."

Iris gives me a small smile before hugging her father.

"She's right." Caitlin spoke, "We all make mistakes- and we all have secrets. But this is Barry we're talking about."

The computers starts beeping, as Caitlin looked at it, "Who is apparently in trouble."

-

The next morning, we all stood in the cortex, recalling the events of the night before. I crossed my arms, the oversized sweatshirt I was wearing folding at the ends.

"Nothing. No mention of Alchemy, no mask wearing monk meta's. Not even close." Cisco spoke.

"Joe and I didn't find any known aliases in any of the records at ccpd." I told him, putting a lose strand that fell from my messy bun behind my ear.

"Clariss won't say anything either." Joe continues.

"All right, well, keep at him. Alchemy is the one that gave Clariss back his speed." Barry nods.

"He's kinda like a doctor, that way, don't you think? Come on, don't pretend like "Doctor Alchemy" doesn't have a nice ring to it." Cisco says, a small smirk on his face.

"Okay, well, that explains why he didn't have any traces of dark matter in his cells. He didn't eat his powers from the particular accelerator, he got them from Alchemy." Caitlin explained.

"What was that?" Cisco looks at Caitlin.

"Doctor Alchemy." Caitlin corrects herself, a smile on her face.

"How could he do that?" Iris asks.

"I don't know but we need to figure it out. There's gonna be more. Alchemy- Doctor Alchemy said that he is preparing the world." Barry told us.

"Preparing the world?" I repeat.

Barry hums in response, as Wally speaks up in question, "Prepare the world for what? The second coming or something?"

"I think that everyone who had powers in Flashpoint, is gonna get them back." Barry states.

"Well- we already found four other husks so that means there's at least that many running around Central City." Joe spoke.

"We need to find him before he changes more people's lives." Caitlin said.

"Speaking about changing lives- we all talked about it and we decided that we don't want to know about our lives in Flashpoint, Barry." Iris informed him.

"You sure?" Barry questions.

"Completely." I nod.

"To the wide words of Harry, "What's the point, Allen?"" Cisco quotes, earning a chuckle from Barry.

"I gotta get to the precinct." Joe looked at his watch.

"Stop by Jitters on the way?" Iris offers.

"Yeah, it's on me." He smiles at his daughter.

"Oh good, then I'm coming too." Wally said.

"I got to head to the station-" I step away, before leaving star labs right after them.

-

"Yesterday, you came in and you asked for Edward Clariss' report but I didn't tell you who that husk belonged to-" I heard Julian Albert's voice call Barry Allen out in their lab as I made my way up the steps "You stole a sample when you showed up to my crime scene. How did you do that?"

I heard a following silence come from Barry, as I quickly walked in, "Actually, Julian, I gave him a sample."

"Why would you do that?" He questions, watching me as the heels on my boots clicked as I rounded the corner of Barry's desk, placing my hands on his shoulders, looking at Julian. "No matter how much you two can't stand each other, I believed that he could indeed help with the investigation. And he did with the information he gave me, so we're done here."

Julian stares at me, "I understand, Detective."

"Good." I nod, as he leaves the lab once the conversation was over with.

"See you tomorrow, roomie." Barry mutters, before looking up at me, "How have I worked with him for the past year?"

"That's because you didn't." I say quietly, laughing a little, "You're going to have to start dealing with that. I can't exactly save you from sharing this lab with him."

"Thanks for the save, honey." He smiles at me, before catching on what he just called me, "Sorry- it's just a habit."

"Barry?" I say quietly, looking down at him.

"Yes?" He asks, as I lean against his desk.

"In our- normal timeline- did we get back together- after what Reign did?" I hesitantly question, my fingers drumming on the surface his desk.

He sits up, giving me a nod, "Yeah- yeah we did get back together."

"That's why you were acting so weird when I told you we weren't together-" I spoke, "And you had that confused look on your face when I said you might have a shot with Iris with the way you've been pinning over her-" I cross my arms, "We were still together."

He gives me a slow nod, "My feelings haven't changed, Zee. I didn't get to feel those months we weren't together- because I was living in another timeline."

And that was what made my heart jump, and my stomach to do cartwheels.

authors note:

8k. holy crap.